Thread: How do these specs sound for a new gaming pc

A friend of mine offered to build me a new pc. Here's the specs, I was just wondering if this is a good pc. He's only charging me $490 to build it.

- Intel Pentium Dual-Core 3Ghz CPU
- Biostar ATX board with SATA and DDR3 and PCI-E slots and maximum RAM capacity of 8GB (64-Bit)
- Visiontek DDR3 4GB RAM module
- ASUS GeForce 210 1GB video card with VGA, DVI and HDMI out
- Seagate 250GB HDD SATA hard drive
- Diablotek ATX 500W power supply
- Lite On 24X DVD Writer
- Apevia Tower Case with cooling fan and two front USB 2.0 ports
- Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit edition

That 210 isn't going to cut it for almost any new games. Maybe some 2005 and older games but anything else just not going to run well.

I just went over a few more parts for a new build. I'm still kicking around some ideas. Everything but a GPU. Here's what I have so far.

Xion XON-570P Meshed Mid Tower Case w/ 500w ps - $70

ASUS P8H61-M LE/CSM B3 Revision - Motherboard - $72

Intel Pentium G630 BX80623G630 Processor - $90
or
Intel Core i3-2100 BX80623I32100 Processor - $125
or
Intel Xeon X3323 2.5GHZ Quad Core 6MB 1333MHz Processor CPU - $95

ST3500418AS Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" SATA - $80
or
Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB - $165

Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 - $40

video card - ?

First of all, that CPU (processor) needs upgrading. Dual Core are nice but are outdated now. I'd suggest an i5 for good balance between budget/performance. i3 is kinda weak. Dunno about that Quad Xeon tho.

Also, 240GB is really low, especially if you plan on storing games and such. Get a 500GB or 1TB 7000RPM for best performance. Ofc screw SSD. Western Digital is usually overpriced, just look at capacity and speed (RPM) and pick a nice combo for a good price.

I suggest you get that 8GB RAM, cheap way to boost your PC speed.

That's most of it. Rest is fine within budget.

you get what you pay for...

those parts are all really outdated, im suprised he can even get his hands on them, I suggest spending a bit more, your not going to get a gaming PC for under 500$

the price of those parts is not bad, but i mean you should go with a outdated quad 775 or like a i5

I would also suggest going with ATI if your on a budget for the video card or at least grabbing like a 260/460/560GTX